Tag: music

Hey everyone! I haven’t gotten around to doing one of these in a long time… so here’s December’s. And no, it won’t be Christmas music. (I love Christmas music, but maybe I can do a separate post just for Christmas music.) Maybe.. Anyway, here are 10 songs I’ve been really enjoying these days:

Hey everyone! I haven’t had a ton of time to blog lately. Currently working on a post, but I need to edit it some before I post it. How are you all? In a nutshell, life is alright. God is good. Some days have been absolutely wonderful, some days have been unbearably hard. Some days my faith has been strong, and some days I’ve struggled with guilt and unbelief, but I have been learning that my feelings and truth are not always the same thing (more on that later)—that I can choose to believe God’s word, although today I may not feel the truthfulness of the truth. (But I do want to feel that truth is truth while I believe it, of course.) I’ve been learning to preach the gospel to myself daily, to seek the LORD, to focus on Him, to enjoy Him and the good things He has given me, to be in fellowship with dear friends who love the LORD (for I have seen that it is sometimes through the words and kindness of other believers that He shows us truths that we need to hear—this happened last sunday when I was with a dear friend of mine…praise God for friends that point you to Christ when you are doubting!). Anyway. Other than that, in school I’m learning HTML and CSS in order to create a website, and designing a newspaper layout, and just this morning I gave a 3-minute presentation (for which I pulled an all-nighter in trying to prepare for it) on a painting by Albert Bierstadt. Life is good, sometimes it’s hard, but that’s life, and I have a sure foundation in Christ and in the work He has done. Overall, I am very blessed.

Things have been going really well these past few days. School has been super interesting, and every day I’ve looked forward to the next class. We are now into our second week of school; we just finished reading and discussing Augustine’s Confessions and just today we discussed Augustine’s understading of the Trinity and of the Will, whether creeds and confessions are an important thing to have in the church (we’re reading part of The Creedal Imperative by Carl Trueman for that), etc. So many topics in one class period! It was so interesting though.

To provide context for future posts, I might as well add that hey, so I’m actually not a junior. I would have been, but last year the stress, the workload, the late nights and minor depression (from all of this) got to me, consequently last year things didn’t go as well as I’d liked, and I didn’t exactly pass. I had taken my fall sophomore semester, but couldn’t take the spring one until I caught up on some things. So I focused on my Greek, aced it, enjoyed a lighter workload for a season, and now I’m back as a Sophomore, 2.0. While this is hard in some ways going from one class to another, it’s been great being a part of this new class. From the start I immediately felt like I belonged, they were all so welcoming. Last year I had gotten to know some of these people, and became good friends with them. Now I get to be in class with them, and hang out with them all the time. It’s pretty sweet. Besides the people I already knew, I got to know the people I didn’t know very well. At this point I know everyone’s names and have talked to nearly every one of them, and they all are super awesome people. I left a great class, but I entered one that was just as equally great.

Now that I’ve provided some context, I can talk in the future about themes we’re studying without you all being confused – “didn’t you go through that material already?”

Besides academics, life has been good these past few days – exceptionally good.

The LORD has been so full of grace to me, as always, particularly now by giving me joy in him, which I’ve felt somewhat lacking before and had to fight for it. I feel like these days my prayers have been less self-focused and more gospel-centered, which is good. Besides that type of joy (which surpasses all others), I’ve been laughing so much these days, haha. There are a few people in my class who are absolutely HILARIOUS, and they have been a source of much humor in our classes and in the times we hang out together.

Some days the weather has been slightly chilly – an indication of fall weather. You guys, I cannot wait. The colors. The smell of dead leaves, and the sound of them crunching under my feet. Actually having to wear sweaters and wool socks and use blankets. Being able to drink tea without overheating myself. Pumpkin, cinnamon, squash… guys. I bought a butternut squash a few days ago. YES.

I’ve been learning the pleasure of listening to entire albums at once. I used to not have the patience for that. But I’ve been realizing that albums sometimes have a big picture, and certain songs sometimes build off others in the album, or a hidden theme develops that I would have missed had I only listened to select songs at random. Even if not, I’ve found listening to entire albums pleasurable in and of itself. A few albums I’ve been listening to, start to finish, are

Ghost of a King by The Gray Havens

Where The Light Gets In by Jason Gray

Posters by Strahan

So that’s a bit on how things have been going recently! I could say so much, but time is limited, and I’ve got to make supper and get to my reading (my reason for blogging was to wake myself up – I kept dozing off mid-sentence while I was reading, and would end up dreaming ends of sentences onto ones I had started while awake! So strange, haha).

I thought it would be fun to have a monthly post series dedicated to music I’ve been enjoying. Because who doesn’t love to find a good song? So with that, here is the first of the #MonthlyMusicPost series, where I post 10 songs that I’ve been enjoying.

Here are 10 songs that I’m currently loving:

1.) I Know I Need You – Ryan Ellis

This song. It’s so incredibly catchy. It’s a Christian song, though it might not be obvious if you don’t listen to it knowing that right off the bat. It’s all about how we desperately need God.

2.) This Fire – Ben Rosenbush & The Brighton

3.) Like The Dawn – The Oh Hellos

4.) We Are Brave – Shawn McDonald

5.) Never Stop – Urban Rescue

These guys have toured with Rend Collective twice, and I love their music. This song especially.

6.) Lion’s Den – Holly Ann

7.) Dear Sophie – Tim Halperin

This song is so cute. I heard the guy wrote it for his infant niece. Aww.

8.) I’m Alive – Brother Daniel

9.) Far Kingdom – The Gray Havens

I love The Gray Havens – their lyrics are so poetic, and filled with allegories that communicate biblical truths, while their style of music is perfectly singer-songwritery. (Sometimes I’m not good at writing reviews, haha – I could never be a professional critic.)

10.) This My Soul – The Gray Havens

A song about death in Adam, and life in Christ.

Stay tuned for the next #MonthlyMusicPost! (I sound like a TV guy, haha.)

Hey everyone! How are you all? The end of the semester is coming up so quickly, with only 3 weeks left! Gotta finish strong, get all those verb paradigms hammered into my mind. I’ve got pretty much all of my vocab down, so that’s good.

These days have been very mellow, most of them spent at home. If you’d ask me what I do all day, I would say, Greek. Read my Bible. Journal. Wash dishes. Text my sister. Listen to music. Do some hand-lettering.

Speaking of music, I’ve REALLY been enjoying The Gray Havens’ new album, “Ghost of a King”. Their music is so fun, and the lyrics are so cleverly written, and many of the songs have Gospel illustrations worked into them. It’s pretty cool. I really like “Shadows of the Dawn”, “Diamonds and Gold” which has a really catchy tune, and “This My Soul” whose lyrics are wonderful. Besides The Gray Havens, I’ve also been enjoying Jason Gray’s new single, “Sparrows”.

Now that it’s officially spring (it has been for a while, I know), I’ve been really enjoying all the springy things I’ve missed: birds singing, the windows open, rain pattering outside, sleeping with the fan on (YES), wearing skirts, and all that.

I’ve been asked to do a couple lettering projects recently, and it’s been pretty fun. I got to design my roommate’s wedding invitation, and just yesterday someone else asked me to work on a project for them. Um, YES.

Greek has been fun, as usual. Last week my professor led us all in a game of Greek Jeopardy and it was great. The category titles were pretty funny – for example, “Just Do It” for Imperatives (commands and prohibitions), “To Be Or Not To Be” for Infinitives (“to be” verbs), etc. Haha. I love Greek class. We’ve started calling the letter xi (ξ) “the squiggle”, ever since one of the guys in my class called it that, forgetting its actual name. So whenever we review the Square of Stops (a very hard-to-explain system in which certain consonants in Greek, when followed by a sigma, produce either phi, xi, or sigma), “when κ goes before a perfective aspect market σ, it will yield what?” We won’t say “xi!” but rather, “the squiggle!” Also, some of the mnemonic devices some people use crack me up. There’s this word, εγώ, that is procounced “eg-OH”, and it means “I”. A few weeks ago in class, when one of the guys was trying to remember the word, another guy whispers to him loudly, “What are your favorite waffles?” At which the first guy I mentioned lights up and says, “Eggo!” And then my prof says “Those are BARELY waffles, guys.”

In my devotions I’ve just finished Romans, and am starting 1 Corinthians and Acts. The Epistles are SO good (the whole Bible is… and by the way, I know Acts isn’t an epistle, haha).
Ahh, this sound of rain is wonderful. Some people hate rainy days, but I think they’re one of the best things ever.

Winter Break is coming to a close. Overall, it was really good. I spent precious time with my family. I got to sleep in most days (a luxury!), make smoothies whenever I wanted (I don’t own a blender, but my mom does), and draw, take pictures, write and do exegesis (in layman’s terms, study the Bible) to my heart’s content. Then the past couple days were spent with the freshmen that are currently in the area: going out to eat, playing hilarious games like Quelf and “Dreams”, and having conversations about things like Calvinism versus Arminianism (typical of Bible college students… but really, theological conversations are the best). Good times! Anyway, I feel well rested and ready to start a new semester. I’m currently in the process of packing up and moving my stuff back to my dorm. I’m also reading for our first lesson this Wednesday, about the Greeks, Romans and Persians during 400-300 BC (i.e. Alexander the Great, Xerxes, the Peloponnesian Wars, the rising and falling of Rome, etc). Very interesting. I’m very excited about this semester. We’ll be studying Greek philosophy, literature, culture and mythology, and go through the New Testament. I. AM. PUMPED. Beyond words. =) I’m especially looking forward to going through the Epistles. Paul, John and Peter’s letters are FANTASTIC.

It’ll be good to be back home again, living with my roommates again, cooking my own food, having friends over, and sleeping in my own bed, in “the batcave” (my loft/closet, which needs a better name, haha). =)

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These past few weeks, this is what God has been teaching me:

– Words can tear down, or they can build up. Be careful how you use them.

– God is gracious, even when I am not. I hate to admit that some days I was tempted to feel easily irritated about things. Then I would stop and think, “Where did this attitude come from? This is not right!”

– “Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him” (Psalm 42:11). There are those days when I’m just not feeling the weight of the glory of the Gospel–I believe it, but I feel like it’s more in my head than my heart, and I’m not really seeing it for what it truly is, in depth… and I have to ask God for eyes to see it. Sometimes during those days my natural response is to worry: “Oh no! Does this mean I’m not believing it?” Not always. Somedays it’s harder to see clearly than others, but keep choosing to believe God’s Word; keep persevering! Psalm 42:11 fits this sort of scenario perfectly:

Why are you cast down, O my soul,

and why are you in turmoil within me?

Hope in God; for I shall again praise Him,

my salvation and my God.

“Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him.” I love this verse. God knows my heart. He knows that even though I’m not “feeling it” that day, my heart is longing to be in that fellowship with Him. And soon He will give me eyes to see again–more fully, in more detail–the beauty of the Gospel. So I press on, preaching to myself of the mercy and grace of God through Christ, and keep fixing my mind on the Word, and pretty soon… WOW. I once again realize how beautiful Christ is. And my heart is once again overwhelmed by His sacrificial love.

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A couple days ago I treated myself to the luxury of Spotify Premium, so that’s been pretty fun. Current favorites:

Trololo Song – Eduard Khil (aka “Mr. Trololo”). Yes, I’m serious… it’s been stuck in my head all week. Though it’s been an internet meme for quite a while, I was completely unaware of its existence until a friend showed it to me a month ago. The song was written by Eduard Khil, titled (in Russian) “I Am Glad, Because I’m Finally Returning Home”, and it’s essentially about a cowboy coming home to his wife. However, according to wikipedia (yes, I research these sorts of things), he never published his lyrics, but decided to sing the tune anyway, I guess. It’s a cool tune, I suppose, but why all the “lololololo”? haha =)

I’ve been enjoying the snow so much. Watching it fall while I sit in my warm house with a cup of tea (or in the library, as I try to tackle an essay on the interactions between Israel and Assyria in the Old Testament) is near perfection. A couple of the people in my class had never seen snow in their lives up until now, so it was cool to see their reactions, to hear about what they thought when they first saw it, felt it, walked on it.

God has been teaching me a lot. He’s been proving Himself faithful over and over, and teaching me to rest in Him; to bring any anxieties or stress (college, life, etc.) to Him, and He always takes care of it. Matthew 11:28-29 is high on the list of my life verses (I don’t have just one…I can’t narrow down the whole Bible to just one verse; it’s all so good): “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Jesus is just seriously THE BEST.

Our class learned about Hinduism last Friday. It was a very interesting day. The lecturer that day was actually Indian; a Christian who was a former brahmin (the highest, most desired position in the caste system; so it’s amazing and so cool that he left that to follow Jesus). Hinduism is strange – the ultimate goal is to become one with “Brahman” (their impersonal god of gods, I guess) and become impersonal. Which makes sense now to me why yoga (which actually is a hindu practice) is all about emptying onesself. Hmmm… I really don’t know why anyone would desire to be impersonal. After class, we took a field trip. We had lunch at an Indian restaurant, and then toured a Hindu temple. It was very interesting. The tour guide showed us all the different shrines containing images of some of the Hindu gods and goddesses, and told us about their attributes, etc. It made me thankful that the REAL God made Himself known to me, chose me to be one of his children, and opened my eyes to how awesome He is. On the ride back, I and a few guys in my class were talking about this, and we were like, “Man, if God didn’t save me, I sadly would probably chosen Hinduism over any other religion!” Yeah. It made me super thankful. :)

I’ve been noticing how less-effective studying in a group setting is. It’s fun, but certainly NOT productive. ;)

I’ve been listening to Christmas music, and it isn’t even thanksgiving yet! A couple days ago, Rend Collective came out with their Christmas album, Campfire Christmas, Vol. 1, and I bought two of the songs (“Ding Dong Merrily On High” and “Merry Christmas Everyone” – the first is my favorite). They are so FUN! I really admire their style of music. Anyway. You should check it out.

College life has been pretty stressful at times, but really worth it. My classmates are so fun and so hilarious. One of the things we’re learning these days is argumentation. Sometimes somebody will say something, and then somebody else will reply, “that’s a fallacious argument; you just did a false generalization.” Just today we were studying the book of Judges. After a bit of discussion, our prof suddenly said, “and now we’re going to break up into groups, and each group will form a skit based on a story in Judges, but with a modern-day twist.” Wow… didn’t see that coming! So we got to have some unexpected fun that day (I’m NOT saying that normal class days aren’t fun), using our creativity and laughing at each other’s skits.

Over the past few weeks I’ve been gradually adding things to my “dorm room” to make it more homey. It’s not actually a room; it’s a little closet just off the living room, consisting of a loft that one of my friends refers to as the “Batcave” (haha… a very feminine batcave at that), and a desk and a bunch of shelves underneath it. Though it’s small, it’s cozy. The walls surrounding my loft are covered with photos, drawings, written Bible verses and quotes, song lyrics I find inspiring, Rend Collective and Moriah Peters posters… you name it. There are Christmas lights and a fan (I turn it on for white noise at night), and even a little shelf built into the wall (which was there when I came) where my journal, Bible, a pen and a barely-started John Piper book stand.

I’ve been enjoying the beautiful fall scenery. The weather is currently warm and pleasant, and I hope to enjoy it as much as I can, because it will not be this way for very long! This afternoon a few friends and I went to a nearby park that is absolutely gorgeous. In the center of the park is a hill, and around the hill are lots of bright red maple trees. We climbed the hill and had a picnic, sat around and talked, and threw leaves at each other. It was ridiculous… but fun. :) For a while I just laid there in the grass and closed my eyes, taking in the warmth of the sun and the gloriousness of everything. God is so amazing.

My garb of choice has been mostly sweaters, plaid shirts and hoodies, jeans and my pleather combat boots (haha), all day er’day.

As far as technology goes, I’ve been loving Mac OS X Yosemite. Aw yeah. (I’m not as much of an Apple nerd as I was, but I still get excited whenever Apple releases something new.) Also I’ve been loving the Day One Journaling app for Mac. It’s really slick.

So ever since I got back from Colorado, this is what has been going on in my life:

I purchased a very awesome but generic backpack. It looks like this:

I feel quite hipster owning it, to be honest. ;) The funny thing though, is that its brand is a complete knockoff of the Levi’s brand. The logo is that familiar Levi’s shape, but instead of saying what you’d expect – Levi Strauss & Co – it says “AUGUR Strauss & Co”. What on earth?! Plagiarism! Haha. Thankfully that logo was on a tag on the inside, which was easily able to be seamripped off.

I recently got myself an Olloclip. It’s so cool! If you don’t know what that is, it’s a 4-in-1 lens clip set for the iPhone. The lenses are 10x macro, 15x macro, wide angle and fisheye. I’ve been experiencing with the macro lenses, and I just love them! It brings my photography potential to a whole new level. :)

About a week ago was the start of a new season of life for me. A season that at times can be hard and exhausting, yet so awesome, beautiful and oh SO worth it. I started attending a really amazing Bible college. I’m learning so much – every day God just blows my mind with new things to know about His power; His might, His glory. I’m growing in knowledge of the supremacy and beauty of Christ. I’m establishing so many wonderful new relationships that mean the world to me – when you get a good number of my classmates together, that’s when the fun and awesome fellowship happens. (A couple nights ago several of us went to a park at night to play ultimate frisbee, then went for a walk through the city to find a Starbucks. Sadly, it was closed when we got there, but I don’t regret the walk.) :)

Yesterday I went to my very first urban farmer’s market. Until now I’d only been to little ones held in a small town. I decided to go all experimental and buy things I either never have had before, or have not had in a long time. So I bought myself some purple green beans, elderberries, and a honeycomb. I also bought a few things I was familiar with, too, like rainbow chard, a cucumber and some chamomile blend tea.

Hello everybody! It’s been a long time since I’ve last posted. I haven’t found much to write about these days. But a lot has happened in the past couple of weeks. So here’s an update on my life.

During the past few weeks, I have learned so much about our amazing and great God.

I spent a few days out in the country, and got to enjoy the open space and fresh air. Also I enjoyed being able to see the entire sky without obstructions (like buildings, etc.)! You can’t do that in the city. I saw some of the most amazing clouds.

I saw Hallmark’s When Calls the Heart series. Now, I think Hallmark’s shows are super cheesy. However, despite the cheese and unrealistic plot, I rather enjoyed it. Does anyone else think that Jack sort of looked like Bear Grylls? Haha :)

Started tweeting a lot. Don’t worry, it’s for a good purpose. :) I started actually using my Twitter account for my other blog, Girls Who Glow (a blog for Christian girls), and I have been using it to encourage other girls, and have gotten encouragement myself. Social networking is awesome!

Moriah Peters did a drawing for her painted boom box used in her video, and I entered to win it. I don’t think I won, though. The drawing ended yesterday, and I heard nothing. Oh well. ;) Her new album is coming out on the 20th! So excited!!!!

Remember when I had a very small (and sadly unsuccessful) design shop called Sparkel Works? It’s long gone, but I think I might start it up again soon, God willing.

Everyone goes through tough times; it’s part of life. But it’s so comforting to know that even in the hardest moments in my life, God still cares for me and uses those times for my own good – to bring me closer to Him. Wow. God is just amazing. Moriah Peters (one of my favorite Christian music artists ever) wrote a song about that, called “You Carry Me”, and posted the lyric video on YouTube a couple days ago. I really, really love the song. :)

Well, these past few days I’ve had a pretty bad cough. I’ve gotten that chainsmoker voice. I’ve been drinking lots of lemon-ginger-water to ease the discomfort in my throat.

About a week or so ago I discovered Rend Collective, this Christian band from Northern Ireland. Their music is kind of indie/folksy, and pretty awesome! Below is a YouTube playlist of my favorite songs by them:

I’ve been drawing a little bit during my spare time this week. These last two were done today.

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H E L L O .

This blog is a place where I write about the things I enjoy, my life, things that the LORD has been teaching me, and all the ways in which He has blessed me beyond measure (hence the title of this blog). And occasionally I may post a poem or a short story or two.

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